I was going to mention about the slate with RAY THE MAGNIFICENT on it...you beat me to it I heard that the working title was THE MAGNIFICENT STRANGER but RAY If it was called RAY first and then changed to MAGNIFICENT STRANGER you can work out which scenes were filmed first from the trailer.

Here's the original italian trailer (pay close attention - I'm pretty sure every shot is an alternate/extended take or unused angle from those in the film). Also the Morricone music seems to be slightly different than the version in the film.

Yes, that version of the title music is on the extended or bootleg CD, I have a copy of that. It's somewhat "partway" between the music from Pastures of Plenty (sung by Peter Tevis) and the final soundtrack cut. When I first heard both those on the CD I found them very interesting, as I was trying to figure how Morricone got from one to the other. Apparently Leone liked the music from Pastures of Plenty (which did not have the whistling), told Morricone he liked the music.

Thanks so much for posting the outtakes segment, it convinced me to go and import the set from dvdland.it. I'm happy to be corrected, but this looks like a whole new restoration of the movie, different to the MGM and German Paramounts from a few years back - I've only watched bits of it, and it looks superb. The restoration segment on the DVD unfortunately is only in Italian - pretty much everything else has English subtitles, but not that bit.

Also, one crucial thing, in the segment where Clint shoots the 4 Baxters who scared his mule, I'm convinced there is a bit more information on the sides of the picture. The guy who is shot on the right-hand side of the screen, in the MGM version you don't really see much of him as he falls (slightly off screen) - in this version, you can see a lot more of him, he's basically completely on screen.

I'm going to try and get some screen caps done, for comparison, but am interested in other peoples take on this if they have the new set.

You're absolutely right, this is a completely new restoration from the original negative, I believe the mgm restoration was from an interpositive element (nobody wanted to ship the negative overseas). I think this accounts for the slight cropping on the MGM and german versions. Mgm didn't do any digital restoration on the film (John Kirk doesn't believe in it), but the germans took the MGM HD master and digitally restored it (removing flicker, dirt etc) a couple of years ago. Up until this new version, that was the best quality version.. Even thought the restoration segment is in italian, you can see pretty clearly that they went all the way back to the original negative, re-color timed it (especially the day-for night scenes) and digitally removed original camera negative scratches etc. There's not a spec of dirt anywhere! It looks stunning on the blu-ray, as good as any modern feature in terms of sharpness, color accuracy etc. If FAFDM gets the same treatment by the same company we're in for a treat. (there is a FAFDM BLU ray which I have, it looks very good as well, but is only in Italian and has no extras) I think it's produced by a different company.

I would love to see screen comparisons if you want to take the time to do them Thanks for your comments on the cropping, I hadn't noticed that originally, now that you point it out it makes me even happier to own the new version.

Thanks so much for posting the outtakes segment, it convinced me to go and import the set from dvdland.it. I'm happy to be corrected, but this looks like a whole new restoration of the movie, different to the MGM and German Paramounts from a few years back - I've only watched bits of it, and it looks superb. The restoration segment on the DVD unfortunately is only in Italian - pretty much everything else has English subtitles, but not that bit.

Also, one crucial thing, in the segment where Clint shoots the 4 Baxters who scared his mule, I'm convinced there is a bit more information on the sides of the picture. The guy who is shot on the right-hand side of the screen, in the MGM version you don't really see much of him as he falls (slightly off screen) - in this version, you can see a lot more of him, he's basically completely on screen.

I'm going to try and get some screen caps done, for comparison, but am interested in other peoples take on this if they have the new set.

I would love to see screen comparisons if you want to take the time to do them

Here's the first one, I'll get some more up in a day or so. From the top down, in this order:1) Original UK Region 2 DVD (backup copy)2) MGM UK Region 2 SE3) Paramount German SE (TLE Films restoration)4) Ripleys Home Video Italian DVD (new Italian restoration)

Look to the center-right on the bottom image, you'll see more of the building on the right. Also, top-right has a bit more mountain, and (possibly) a fraction more information along the bottom of the screen.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post this - it's clear that the new image is sharper, less contrasty and has more info - all of which are hard to judge without direct comparisons - thanks for your effort!